This is Viewpoints for Friday, March 9, 2018

Kind of our fault

I was amused to see the lieutenant governor wrap himself in whatever flag he could find, and scream that conservatives were being attacked! Yes, attacked! Oh, my … lions and tigers and bears!

All of this because Delta Airlines, one of the largest businesses in Georgia, decided to try to remove itself from the gun argument.

Forget any state revenue strategy, and ignore the picture of state officials bowing to a special interest group. Punish that business for even thinking they could cross Casey Cagle and his pals! Yes! That’s the kind of leadership we need in Georgia … emotional, heavy handed, unbecoming at best and economically damaging at worst.

Now, you shouldn’t blame Mr. Cagle for his … well, deeply politicized behavior. The problem is not Cagle and friends. The problem is ours. We voted them in.

So, we have a decision to make next November and beyond. Do we want special interest groups determining Georgia policy and direction? Perhaps it would be nice for a construction lobby to decide how and when we build and repair highways, or an education lobby driving education reform (for profit, of course).

On the other hand, we might be better off with elected officials who can plan, organize, and lead this state for everyone’s best interests. You know … real public service.

I know what I prefer. And I hope you make your preference known and count. Vote.

Consolidation mistake

The taxpayers of Macon-Bibb County made a big mistake not by consolidating but by how the governments were consolidated. History has shown that it’s foolish to remove one dysfunction form of government only to replace it with the same. Upon ratification of our Constitution back in l788, the Founding Fathers envisioned it wise to form a better government where taxation is fair and equal under the banner of a republic. Unfortunately Macon-Bibb leaders omitted that class and went straight to tax and spend your way out of debt. By removing the avarice management out of the picture, tax and spend will not solve our liabilities, and spend, spend like a college student with a new credit card is not the answer either; all must stop.

The only way to stop the red ink is management, not mismanagement, identify the losses with sound corrections and hold a fair vote not like the one coming up where the language is altered but straight forward to mean the just what it means not the opposite.

Like losing a friend

Chance encounters can create memories and allow one to relive prior ones. My wife and I had one such occasion as we approached Publix recently and met this dear friend of Jane’s, a WWII European war bride. Jane had visited with her and husband, now deceased, nearly weekly for decades at the dry cleaning business that they managed.

Such a beautiful smile and warm greeting met us as she then looked towards me, expression changing saying, “I so miss Charles Richardson.”

She recounted that she had only met him one time, but she read everything he wrote with much enjoyment. His leaving left an unfilled hole in her newspaper, The Telegraph.

I responded that I too missed his column, and I also had met him only once by chance at Ingleside Baptist Church while attending funeral services for dear friend former Mayor Lee Robinson.

I had written numerous e-mails to Charles about his columns over the years with the “not a letter to editor” caption. It was an enjoyable friendship via e-mail.

As we prepared to walk on, Jane’s friend looked intently into my eyes saying, “Please keep on writing. I do not want to lose another writer that I like to read.”

I thanked her for the kind compliment saying that I intended to invite Charles to the standing invitation I have extended to Frank Gadbois to a “my treat” lunch when Frank accepts and we can set possible dates. (This might be an encounter needing a referee. JUST KIDDING.)

Protect voting machines

I am concerned about Russian meddling in the 2018 midterm election. State election officials must take every precaution to ensure that the election process is secure. I am not worried about bogus accounts in social media. I am concerned that there will be a hack into voting machines and their electronic data base. Talented individuals have been recruited, trained and financed to identify vulnerabilities in our election process.

Election officials must install firewalls to protect voting machines and their electronic data bases that are used to tabulate voting results. They have to install software to detect if a hack occurred. They need to install a paper backup system that can be used if a hack happened.

Just their first step

Banning the sale of the AR1-5 rifle is in the forefront after the tragic carnage in Parkland, Florida, of 17 high school students. Zealot anti-gun advocates will use this as a first step to total gun control and confiscation of all firearms, and repeal of the Second Amendment.

I am old enough to remember when you could smoke in any section of an airplane. The anti-smoking advocates then got the airlines to restrict smoking to the last six rows. After that rule, they moved on to banning all smoking for short flights not more than two hours. Guess what? After that concession they moved on to a complete ban of smoking on all flights. I have no problem with the no smoking rule, I just use it as an example of what I call "Creeping Gradualism."

Once AR-15s are prohibited from sale, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind they will move on to magazines that can hold more than 10 cartridges, then ban individuals from possessing more than one handgun and hunting rifle, and then if you can't provide a hunting license, why do you need a rifle? Can you see where this is going? Why would anti-gun advocates stop at removing the AR-15 from sale? They are called anti-gun advocates for a reason. I interpret that to mean all guns.

This story was originally published March 9, 2018 at 9:00 AM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, March 9, 2018."